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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Silver Lake (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Silver Lake. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for Silver Lake ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Silver Lake: Silver Lk.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Silver Lake is located in Cowlitz County.

To see how the shape of Washington's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Cowlitz County: Columbia (OR), Clark, Lewis, Skamania & Wahkiakum.

Below are the counties that are near Silver Lake. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Silver Lake:

  • Cowlitz County     (The home county of Silver Lake)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Silver Lake, with the one closest to Silver Lake listed first.
    • Toutle
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Castle Rock
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Olequa
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Olequa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olequa
      • Olequa is located in Cowlitz County
    • Ostrander
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ostrander
      • Ostrander is located in Cowlitz County
    • Longview Heights
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Longview Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview Heights
      • Longview Heights is located in Cowlitz County
    • Kelso
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelso
      • Kelso is located in Cowlitz County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,438 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kelso <1>
    • Rose Valley
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Valley
      • Rose Valley is located in Cowlitz County
    • Coal Creek
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Creek
      • Coal Creek is located in Cowlitz County
    • Longview
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • West Longview
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Longview have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Longview
      • West Longview is located in Cowlitz County
    • Ryderwood
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ryderwood
      • Ryderwood is located in Cowlitz County
    • Carrolls
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Clark County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Silver Lake, with the one closest to Silver Lake listed first.
    • Woodland
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • La Center
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Lewis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Silver Lake, with the one closest to Silver Lake listed first.
    • Toledo
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Vader
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Winlock
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Ethel
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Saint Urban
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Urban
      • Saint Urban is located in Lewis County
    • Salkum
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Silver Creek
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Lacamas
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacamas
      • Lacamas is located in Lewis County
    • Onalaska
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Napavine
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Mossyrock
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Ajlune
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ajlune have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ajlune
      • Ajlune is located in Lewis County
  • Wahkiakum County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Silver Lake, with the one closest to Silver Lake listed first.
    • East Cathlamet
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Cathlamet have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Cathlamet
      • East Cathlamet is located in Wahkiakum County
    • Cathlamet
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Columbia County (OR)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Silver Lake, with the one closest to Silver Lake listed first.
    • Rainier
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rainier have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainier
      • Rainier is located in Columbia County (OR)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,021 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rainier <1>
    • Prescott
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prescott have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescott
      • Prescott is located in Columbia County (OR)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 63 people
    • Mayger
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayger
      • Mayger is located in Columbia County (OR)
    • Goble
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goble
      • Goble is located in Columbia County (OR)
    • Beaver Springs
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Springs
      • Beaver Springs is located in Columbia County (OR)
    • Reuben
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reuben
      • Reuben is located in Columbia County (OR)
    • Quincy
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quincy
      • Quincy is located in Columbia County (OR)
    • Clatskanie
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Deer Island
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Columbia City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Silver Lake, see our County-by-County Page for Silver Lake.

Newspapers Published in Silver Lake ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 83 newspapers that have been published in the area around Silver Lake.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Silver Lake, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Silver Lake.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Silver Lake:

Cemeteries Near Silver Lake ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Silver Lake.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Silver Lake covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Silver Lake, with the one closest to Silver Lake listed first.

  • Silver Lake Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Tower Twp. Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Tower Twp. Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Tower Twp. Cemetery is located 8 miles [12.9 km]<3> to the southwest of Castle Rock.
    • The Tower Twp. Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Tower Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tower Twp. Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2277304 <4>
  • Rosin Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Rosin Cemetery is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<3> to the southwest of Castle Rock.
    • The Rosin Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Rosin Cemetery
    • Tower Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rosin Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #77025 <4>
  • IOOF Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the IOOF Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<3> to the west of Castle Rock.
    • The IOOF Cemetery has also been known as:
    • IOOF Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the IOOF Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #76862 <4>
  • Smith - Tucker Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Smith - Tucker Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Smith - Tucker Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<3> to the south of Pleasant Hill.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Smith - Tucker Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2350342 <4>
  • Whittle & Hubbard Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Whittle & Hubbard Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Castle Rock.
    • The Whittle & Hubbard Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Hubbard Cemetery
    • Meadowview Cemetery
    • Whittle and Hubbard Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whittle & Hubbard Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #77115 <4>
  • Jackson Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Jackson Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Jackson Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<3> to the east of Castle Rock.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jackson Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #76873 <4>
  • Stockport Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Stockport Cemetery is located outside and to the south of Pleasant Hill.
    • The Stockport Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stockport Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #545650 <4>
  • Lone Hill Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lone Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lone Hill Cemetery
  • Green Hills Memorial Gardens
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Cowlitz View Memorial Gardens
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Cowlitz View Memorial Gardens is a very large cemetery that is located in Kelso.
    • The Cowlitz View Memorial Gardens has also been known as:
    • IOOF Cemetery
    • IOOF Cemetery
    • Kelso IOOF Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cowlitz View Memorial Gardens
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #281134 <4>
  • Little Falls Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Little Falls Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Little Falls Cemetery
  • Continue List   (51 more) ...
    • Catlin Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Rose Valley Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Snow Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Snow Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Snow Cemetery

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Silver Lake had a post office and no railroad service.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Silver Lake, with the one closest to Silver Lake listed first.

  • Toutle
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Sightly
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sightly have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sightly
    • Sightly is located in Cowlitz County
  • Castle Rock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Toledo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Olequa
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Olequa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olequa
    • Olequa is located in Cowlitz County
  • Lexington
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lexington have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lexington
    • Lexington is located in Cowlitz County
  • Cowlitz
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cowlitz have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cowlitz
    • Cowlitz is located in Lewis County
  • Kelso
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelso
    • Kelso is located in Cowlitz County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,438 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kelso <1>
  • Wilson
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wilson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilson
    • Wilson is located in Lewis County
  • Winlock
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Ethel
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Salkum
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Rainier
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rainier have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainier
      • Rainier is located in Columbia County (OR)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,021 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rainier <1>
    • Carrolls
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Silver Creek
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Silver Lake. See our List of 1890's Communities around Silver Lake.

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Silver Lake. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Cowlitz County: www.co.cowlitz.wa.us/

The official website for State of Washington: https://access.wa.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Silver Lake) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Silver Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.3091, Longitude: -122.7621    
<4>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<5>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<6>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Silver Lake, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024